Last month, Canada and Mexico marked 70 years of uninterrupted diplomatic relations and 20 years as North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) amigos.

But as Prime Minister Stephen Harper departs Ottawa for Mexico, he is not likely to receive a warm embrace from Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. In fact, the Canadian-Mexican relationship has been unusually frosty for almost five years now.

Recently, Mexico’s ambassador to Canada, Francisco Suarez, has gone out of his way to characterize the overall relationship with Canada as essentially “stagnant.” He went on to tell students at Carleton University that bilateral relations have moved to a “mature, dignified old age with flaws, limitations and increasing wrinkles on their face.”